Very few blood donation programs are being organized lately leading to the acute scarcity of blood that has left hundreds of patients and their relatives in the lurch, according to Binod Kumar Nirdha, chief of blood bank at the Red Cross in Morang district. [break]
“Since blood shortage is a problem elsewhere as well, it is difficult for us to seek blood from other districts,” Nirdha said.
“Recently, we sought at least 100 pints of blood of A and B positive groups from the central blood bank in Kathmandu,” He said. “Our request was flatly turned down as the blood bank too is beset by blood shortage.”
Nathuni Sahani, a resident of Budhanagar of Morang district, suffering from anemia, was in a dire need of at least one pint of blood. Nathuni´s relatives waited for all day long at Morang Red Cross blood bank, hoping to get blood. However, they had to return empty-handed. “We then requested the people of our village,” Nathuni´s nephew Shrawan said. “Finally, we found somebody whose blood group matched.”
Like Nathuni, hundreds of patients, who need blood urgently, are facing hard time in Biratnagar as Red Cross blood bank has run out of its reserve blood. Dozens of people come to Red Cross every day hoping to get blood for their patients, only to return disappointed.
In a bid to ease the crisis, Red Cross Morang has recently started making appeals to people through several FM radios to donate blood.
Besides, the organization has called on the 400 social organizations that regularly conduct blood donation programs to increase the frequency of their campaigns. Red Cross has also been prodding organizations that have remained almost passive for years into conducting blood donations programs.
Despite all the efforts, the amount of blood being collected per day is still very low.
“We collected just 16 pints of blood on Friday,” Subodh Singh, secretary of Red Cross Morang, said. “This is really insufficient to meet the increasing demand for blood.”
As hundreds of patients from nearby towns and villages like Pathari, Belbari, Urlabari, Damak, Rangeli, and even from adjoining Indian villages flock Biratnagar every day, the demand for blood is really high here.
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